Hearing aids are traditionally manufactured by electrically connecting together an amplifier, transducers and battery contacts and then packaging this assembly of components into a suitable shell. The shell is tooled specifically to house these components and to protect them from the environmental stresses encountered in day to day use. The performance of a hearing aid is dependent on the integrity of the shell and its ability to provide acoustic isolation between the transducers, protection for the transducers against shock, and protection of all hearing aid components from environmental elements such as moisture and corrosive materials contained in the atmosphere, perspiration, and cosmetic fluids, sprays and powders. While suitable protection may be supplied by a particular hearing aid shell, the need to service the hearing aid components will occasionally require the shell to be opened, thus at the same time compromising the protection provided by the housing.
In addition, it is sometimes necessary to repair a hearing aid, and the repair process may require replacement of components. When all of the components are interconnected together as one assembly, replacement of parts can be difficult and time consuming.
As a result of the above problems, various attempts have been made to produce modular hearing aids. Such attempts are shown for example in West German Gebrauchsmuster Nos. G8908003.3 filed Jun. 30, 1989, G8804745.8 filed Apr. 11, 1988, G8804743.1 filed Apr. 11, 1988, West German Offenlegungsschrift DE 3502178A1 filed Jan. 23, 1985, and European patent application 0303143 filed Jan. 8, 1988. The above documents show various approaches which have been taken to divide the hearing aid into sections. However these proposals leave much to be desired in terms of mechanical strength, ease of connecting and disconnecting the various sections, and an ability to provide various desired cosmetic treatments to the hearing aid as a whole, a matter which is of great importance to users.